Joe Arpaio Recall's Naysayers Laurie Roberts and Mario Diaz, and Why We Fight
Everyone has their own motivation, mine is summed up by Joel McCrea . . .
I like Arizona Republic scribe Laurie Roberts. She's a smart, classy lady. And I believe she means well.
See also:
-Joe Arpaio Recall Still On, Despite Lack of Support from (Some) Deep-Pocket Democrats
As a columnist, she has the luxury of tut-tutting the hard work of others, as she did in her column today, where she wrote off the recall of Arpaio as "doomed" and fraught with political miscalculation.
This comes after what the recall may one day look back on as "Black Monday," when the anti-Arpaio group Respect Arizona announced that it was suspending the use of paid canvassers to collect signatures, and will be reverting to an all-volunteer army to score the remaining sigs to put Arpaio out to pasture.
The announcement was poorly handled. On Sunday, paid canvassers received an e-mail from their employer informing them that they should turn in their petitions. It stated the campaign was ending due to a lawsuit brought by Arpaio's birther buddies.
By Monday morning, Respect Arizona's campaign manager, Lilia Alvarez, was informing reporters that there was not enough cash in the kitty to continue a money-driven effort, one that had scored at least 120,000 valid signatures from qualified county electors.
In hindsight, RA should have held a press conference before the petition company reeled in its workers with an e-mail that was bound to be leaked.
RA could have informed the press that a strategic decision had been made to use the remaining resources for messaging, while relying on volunteers to obtain the rest of the signatures.
A call for funds and more volunteers could have been made then, too.
It's always better to radiate strength than concede weakness: both to keep your enemy at bay and for the morale of your people.
But what's past is past. Laurie says the recall effort is a bust. According to her, we might as well get used to Arpaio walking all over us and those we care about for the next four years.
Just after the recall started, Laurie called it "a slap in the face to voters."
About a month later, not long after Respect Arizona announced that it had gathered 120,000 valid signatures from qualified electors, she wrote that the recall was "off to an impressive start."
She went so far as to advise Arpaio: "I've heard a cruise is a nice way to ease into retirement."
Now, she claims, "[T]he chances of recalling the sheriff are about as good as the chances of Arpaio being named Sheriff of the Year by Chicanos Por La Causa."
She had Democratic consultant and lobbyist Mario Diaz chime in, calling Sheriff Joe and the recall "passe."
Admittedly, my head nearly exploded when I read that.
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